A boring blowout loomed. Yet by the final minute Saturday night in Treasure Valley, a storybook upset was imminent.

Trailing 23rd-ranked Boise State by three on the road, but with the ball and momentum, the 12-point underdog Washington Huskies needed to go 65 yards in two minutes with a quarterback playing his first game as a collegian to pull off the dashing deed.

Even getting to the Broncos’ 30-yard line would be within range of a tying field goal. An overtime, given the pucker that was consuming the mistake-prone Broncos, seemed likely to be a good time for Washington.

Improbably, the Huskies had a first down at BSU 19 inside the final minute. Then everything went backward or nowhere. A penalty, a sack and two incompletions backed up the Huskies to a 46-yard field goal attempt for Cameron Van Winkle.

He had a career-best 51 yards, and his kick was plenty long. But the Huskies’ first game in Idaho in 110 years, and coach Chris Petersen’s first game back since he worked the home sideline at Albertsons Stadium, ended weakly when the ball breezed outside the right upright with 15 seconds left.

Had the Huskies pulled it out, songs would have been written about and babies named after Jake Browning, the first freshman QB in Washington’s long football history to start his first game. Instead, a nice pat on the head will have to do.

“We threw him into the fire, no question about that,” said Petersen, who kept Browning’s role as starter a secret until game time, to little avail. “I don’t think many could handle it like that. He did an admirable job.”

It was admirable, but it wasn’t exactly good. The drama was set up by a resolute Huskies defense that shut down the Broncos in the second half (83 yards, 0 points) after nearly being run out in the first half, and a ferocious set of accomplishments by special teams (blocked PAT, blocked punt, two field goals and a 76-yard touchdown on a punt return by former Broncos recruit Dante Pettis, UW’s only TD).

But the epic finish depended on Browning, 19, who was 20 for 35 for a modest 150 yards and one interception. Apart from numbers, Browning simply fell victim to first-game-itis — indecision, haste, overthrows from adrenaline. But the worst thing was not on him, directly.

He had no help from a running game.

The Huskies gained 29 yards on 22 carries, meagerness that made the close outcome all the more astonishing. A 12-yard scramble by Browning was Washington’s longest run. RB Dwayne Washington led UW with 14 yards on six carries, although he did catch seven passes for a team-high 53 yards.

The offensive line, which had a collective 16 starts among the starting five, was much younger than the Boise State front seven, all seniors and juniors. Then again, more experience still wouldn’t have helped block the eight or nine defenders Boise State often brought into the box because they didn’t worry about Browning beating them.

Petersen’s game plan called for low-risk plays and high percentage choices, perhaps odd after the reputation for wild stunts he acquired during his eight years as Broncos head coach, when he compiled a 92-12 record. But this Huskies team couldn’t afford any mistakes if it planned to stay close. Still, some of Petersen’s playcalls were bewildering, as was his use of backup QB K.J. Carta-Samuels, who made three cameo appearances to hand off the ball.

What kept Washington close was a quick-learning defense led by LB Azeem Victor, who was in on 14 tackles, and DE Joe Mathis, who had seven, including 2.5 for loss. After giving up first-half touchdown drives of 92 and 80 yards, the Huskies forced Boise State into seven punts in the second half, consistently thwarting QB Ryan Finley, a sophomore also making his first start, on third downs.

The defense and special teams were enough to keep it close, but putting it on a freshman QB for the storybook homecoming finish was too much.

“What we learned,” Petersen said, “was we have a ways to go.”

At least the way forward no longer includes a stop in Boise, where he was a civic hero before he left. He so dreaded the awkward emotions that he never bothered with the ritual pre-game handshake with the opposing coach, his former assistant, Bryan Harsin.

But his team didn’t get blown out. That would have been the worst. So missing a game-tying field goal by a foot, he can live with.

YourThoughts

Well….looks like, at the very least, Dawgs have something to work with this season. Like our “D” and never say die attitude. Coaching staff left a little to be desired, thought I.

Buggy White

Why not use the only QB you have with any game experience for an opening game against a ranked opponent on the road? Lindquist is now 3rd in line? Weird…

jafabian

Browning’s game reminded me of Brock Huard’s first game, though Huard didn’t start in his. Can’t really argue with the results, just missing the win. Seems like the team is picking up from last year: they’re a second half team. If they can find a way to bring that into he first half as well they’ll be more than okay.

Lodowick

A great, descriptive summation, Art! Well done. As far as the game goes, I thought he was going to miss that field goal. Just a hunch. He’ll make the next one though.

PokeyPuffy

The sneaky run play (3rd down?) when they snapped the ball while the O-line was still standing was a nice call. Too bad BSU sniffed it out, that was probably our best chance for an offensive touchdown.

Effzee

“Some of Petersen’s playcalls…” Is JSmith not calling the plays, then? I dunno. I was highly impressed w The Real Jake. You could see him grow from the beginning to end. I can see huge things coming from him. The way he kept plays alive with his legs and found guys working their way open really reminded me of another #3 in this town. The defense is no joke, and the coaching staff continues to adjust well at halftime and be motivating late in games. I like most of what I see, but I think there is still a tendency for the coaches to do stupid things on offense for no reason. Each play that KJ ran was a wasted opportunity for the offense, basically. You gotta keep #3 on the field.

ll9956

It’s transparently obvious that the weakest part of the Dawgs’ effort was the offensive line. Petersen said it aptly: “We didn’t block anybody, that’s for sure.” Too bad that when they were on the BS 19 with about a minute to go the next two plays lost 17 yards. The bottom line is that given that they entered the game as 12-point underdogs, they could have done a lot worse. Hopefully things will improve going forward.

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Kirsten Kendrick's Q. & A. with Thiel can be heard every Friday during Morning Edition at 5:35am and 7:35am and again that same day on All Things Considered at 4:45pm. It also airs Saturday at 6:35am and 9:35am.